| Chalk
up another one for President Bush’s conservative
stacking of the U.S. Supreme Court: Last week, union teachers
in Washington State lost a case over how they collect
dues that are used for political lobbying.
On June 14, the high court ruled that the Washington Education
Association didn’t have a right to use the portion
of dues that go to lobbying without first getting each
teacher’s or school employee’s permission.
The case was brought by non-union members who are nonetheless
subject to union dues under a blanket contract that covers
all of the state’s educational employees, whether
they chose to join the WEA or not.
The lobbying portion of the dues is only about $10 or
$25 a year per person, according to the WEA, which had
offered a form for people to send in and get the money
back. But the court’s decision won’t stop
the WEA. After Democrats took over the state Legislature,
they changed the law that the non-union members were fighting,
allowing the WEA to continue collecting the political
dues up front.
|
